Equipment to train at home

Home Court Advantage!

A commonly held belief today is that you MUST train at a commercial gym to get results. There is certainly some benefit to belonging to a commercial gym. However it is NOT a prerequisite to success. There are several reasons why many people choose to train at home rather than at their local club:

A commonly held belief today is that you MUST train at a commercial gym to get results. There is certainly some benefit to belonging to a commercial gym. However it is NOT a prerequisite to success. There are several reasons why many people choose to train at home rather than at their local club:

Convenience – your gym is always open

Quality – you can outfit your gym exactly as you like with the best of equipment

Cost – though the initial investment is high, over time it is much cheaper than yearly dues

Atmosphere – no distractions and no rules!

Clothing – wear what you want

Time – no drive time or social ‘hour’

Necessity – there are still plenty of areas without gyms within driving distance

You can build a platform in one afternoon that will allow you to save your floor and still complete heavy lifts.

Home training does not equate to second-rate workouts. In fact it is just the opposite. In the privacy of your home gym you can achieve the type of mental state needed for the most demanding of sessions. For this reason home training has appealed to some of the most serious and successful lifters. Names like Bill Pearl, Franco Columbu and Frank Zane arise as men who have trained at home for decades. Do you think they would settle for anything less than the absolute best in their workouts?

In this article I’m going to show you how you can put together a first class set up without going broke. In fact, in some respects your equipment may be superior for your specific goals than what you find at your local gym.
Aaron Whitten ’s home gym and his article Squat, King of Exercises

You can distill 90% of the equipment in any commercial gym down to just three pieces: Adjustable racks, an adjustable bench, and a barbell.
It is easy to be overwhelmed when first planning a home set up. Where to start? How can you possibly have enough room and money to do this? If you attempted to simulate a commercial gym, you couldn't. They need tons of equipment since they are supporting many people at once. This is not the case in a home gym where it is rarely more than just yourself and possibly a single partner. The trick is to practice versatility and efficiency in your layout.

*With these three pieces you can do every essential movement, believe it or not.

A word on quality – home equipment should be of the highest quality for safety reasons. Do not skimp on quality regardless of price. This should be a one-time investment that can last for life. Take the time to find and purchase the best equipment. Doing so only once is far cheaper than replacing pieces yearly or, God forbid, getting injured. For this reason I have used IronMind equipment for nearly my entire home set up. They supply equipment for the World's Strongest Man contest so rest assured it is up to the biggest challenges.

If your gym will be on normal flooring, it’s a good idea to build a platform. This will save your foundation and creates a perfect area for heavy lifts. You can build one in an afternoon for a fraction of the cost of a manufactured one. Here is a link to blueprints that work perfectly for an 8x8 platform: http://www.ironmind.com/ironmind/opencms/Main/homesweathome6.html.

With a 12x12 spare bedroom filled with an 8x8 platform, adjustable racks and a bench, you can do everything you need to build a quality physique. I can guarantee this because it is exactly what I have used personally for years! I wouldn't trade my set up for any commercial facility. If you have space and money, you could add some adjustable dumbbells or PowerBlocks and maybe a mirror. Most power racks will have a chin/dip attachment, if yours doesn't, just rig up somewhere to do these two valuable exercises. Additional machines are not needed and can actually distract you from the more effective basic barbell movements.

Without the distraction of machines the home trainee can concentrate on the most important aspect of resistance training: progression. Simply put, you must get stronger over time in order to continue growing. Sounds simple, and it is, but it is the most elusive factor resulting in the failure of most trainees. How many people look the same, year after year? And how many haven't put a pound on their best squat or bench in years? Probably a similar number. A key point to remember is all exercise is not equal. You can fool yourself with all the sets you can muster on preacher curl and seated calf raise machines but the reality is, without serious effort on the big barbell movements it is most likely a waste of time. Think about it: why are gyms packed with so much equipment when a few barbells could replace them all? The answer is because machine work is easier - and many folks are looking for the easy alternative. But, easy is not what progressive resistance exercise is all about. Stick with the productive basics and focus on increasing your strength levels over time.

Here are two routines using just a rack, bench and bar that will pack more beef on your frame than a million dollar's worth of machines could ever hope to do:

Monday

Squat 5x5

Leg raise 3x25

Bench Press 10 8 6 4

Power Clean 3x6

Thursday

Stiff leg Deadlift 15 10 8 6 6

Crunch 3x25

Pull Up 50 total reps (might take 5 sets, might take 10 or more, you can intersperse your
Pull Ups between sets of the other listed exercises.)

Dips 100 total reps (same as Pull-Ups – start with Push Ups if Dips are too hard at first.

Devise your own progression scheme for each exercise. For example, on the 5x5 squat, do 2 warm-up sets of 5 and then 3 sets with your target weight. Whenever you can get 5 reps on all 3 of these “work” sets add a little weight the next time around. 5 or 10lbs is the most you should add to the bar for you next workout, many home gymmers have invested in 1lb or even 1/2lb plates so they can add just a pound or two per week and continue progressing month after month.

If you are a bit more ambitious, try this one:

Monday

Squat

Lunge

Calf raise

Leg Raise

Wednesday

Bench Press

Incline Press

Clean and Press

Close grip Press

Friday

Deadlift

Chin Up

Bent Row

Barbell Curl

With this tried and true routine you do the following set/rep scheme, adding about 5% each week:

Week 1: 3x10 reps

Week 2: 3x8 reps

Week 3: 4x6 reps

Week 4: 5x5 reps

Week 5: 5x5 reps

Week 6: 5x3 reps

Week 7: REST and repeat

If you started with 185 for 10 reps in the bench; at week 6 you'll be doing 235 for your sets of 3 on week 6. Start again, this time with 5lbs more than your original week 1 poundage (upper body) or 10lbs (lower body) and go through the entire progression again. You can repeat this routine over and over if you like.

Notice that both of these routines are abbreviated, intense and filled with result producing movements. This is the definition of an efficient program. An individual who truly applied themselves in progressive fashion to the above routines for a couple of years while following sound nutrition would make more progress than most gym members do in their entire training lifetime.

And what constitutes sound nutrition on such a program? Plenty of quality protein and veggies matched with low to moderate carbs. Beverly International’s websites, www.BodybuildingWorld.com and www.BeverlyInternational.com are loaded with examples of awesome meal plans.

There you have it – a full program for home training that beats the socks off anything else out there. Following this basic, progressive routine coupled with a protein-rich diet will deliver real results. You don't need a fancy gym filled with chrome and spandex, just an old fashioned barbell and plenty of sweat!

SHOW US YOUR HOME GYM

Send high resolution photographs (minimum size 600 kb or 1 MB per photo) of your home gym and we may publish it in a future edition of our No Nonsense Magazine.

Include your name, where you’re from, one of your best home gym workouts, and list your favorite Beverly International products.